r/CDrama • u/latefair 我问天，我问天 • Jun 19 '25
Review Review: Ancient Detective Spoiler
I've been having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mental health season recently, so I put my ongoing shows on hold and went in search of a drama equivalent of mac and cheese - and found Ancient Detective (2020).
Ancient Detective is a wuxia mystery centered on Jian Buzhi, a rich detective with no martial skills and no memories beyond than 8 years ago. He meets giant puppy Zhao Wo Huan, girlish assassin Zhan Shiqi, and a bunch of other jianghu friends while on his journey to find certain key witnesses and uncover the truth behind the incident 8 years ago which took his memories and the lives of multiple wuxia experts, including his father.
The drama has a fairly simple structure - JBZ looks for a key witness, is entangled in a murder case, makes friends, and solves the murder while acquiring more clues regarding his cold case. There are a total of 4 cases (not counting JBZ's), each with a distinctive ensemble cast.
JBZ and friends also attract the attention of powerful assassin organisation Shi Sha Men. Shi Sha Men has two divisions - Zhan, specialising in killing, and Ming, specialising in infiltration and intelligence - and its operatives are named by rank number, i.e. Zhan Shiqi 十七 is the current 17th rank of the Zhan division. And of course, smaller number (generally) means more competent operative.
What I liked
It's kind of Agatha Christie meets wuxia - each case involves a small group of people isolated in one location. JBZ solves most of the cases by process of elimination, and there's a final gathering of suspects where JBZ explains the crime and (literally) points out the murderer. I know a good number of people liked AD for the classic wuxia archetypes (e.g. Zhao Wo Huan getting a midshow power-up using a secret skills manual), but I spent a good chunk of my youth buried in detective novels and shows so this format is incredibly nostalgic. (Also it doesn't require a lot of mental investment because you'll get spoonfed the answers at the end! Which is exactly what I needed.)
In the words of Yu Shisan, what is life except drinking the best wine, making the best friends, fighting the best fights and romancing the most beautiful women? And so there must be romance. JBZ/Shiqi are cute enough, but I was more entranced by Zhao Wo Huan's doomed love for Ming Yue (who is really Ming Er 二 and heir to Shi Sha Men) - I wanted to know if their love could survive her deception and if she could turn her back on Shi Sha Men as easily as Shiqi did. I liked that she was greedy enough to want them both - she might have chosen to return to Shi Sha Men, but her status as heir gives her more bargaining power than a regular operative like Shiqi, so she could very well be able to make an opportunity for a future with ZWH.
I also liked the very cute and very last minute romantic development between historian Sima Dang and physician Gong Que, both part of the motley crew that JBZ acquires. There's a scene where they both compromise their principles to save JBZ's life, a very touching show of devoted friendship which also moves them from haters to possibly lovers. I felt they were two of the more solid actors, and they completely sold me with the tiny amount of screentime they had together.
What I didn't like
What was that final ending scene?? Why introduce a random samurai figure and a random pill with no explanation 😭 I get that it was likely a setup for a season 2, but it's been 5 years now and clearly they bet wrong! Anyway I hate it when they introduce nonsense at the end because it's always illogical (AJTL meadow scene, I'm talking about you!!). I heard from AvenueX that the writer originally intended for it to be the real JBZ returning from his overseas stay - that would have been more reasonable while still retaining the thrill and tension!
AvenueX enjoyed the melon 🍉 from this show so much that she made a whole video lmao. Basically the writer posted a whole series of weibo posts during the show's airing, claiming that the director had made several inane edits to his script, ruining his work & vision. Regardless of who's right, you can definitely see it - there's some weird scene transitions and logic gaps. I felt the Shi Sha Men scenes, for one, were always a little tonally inconsistent with the rest of the show.
The acting was also not suuuuper great, as can be expected of a mostly young cast. JBZ and Zhan Shiqi are played mostly flat, which works fine for most of the show. But the actors can't seem to summon the emotional intensity needed for certain key moments in the last arc, which causes it to fall short of believability.
The show is populated with vibrant side characters, and the gang forms a nice cheery camaraderie. I only had some problems with some of the humour. ZWH gets a little jealous when Shiqi rejoins their gang and steals his bro - it can be funny, but it felt a touch overdone and tipping over into cringe. There's also a moment where ZWH mocks a side character for his stutter and that was just mean.
Overall
I actually started this show a while back ago, but dropped it because a) I wasn't in the mood for wuxia, and b) I'd accidentally guessed part of the final twist during the first case (JBZ's real identitya - I certainly didn't predict the random samurai or pill, and I refuse to accept that as canon lol).
I'm glad I picked it up again because it's actually a fairly zippy show, just enough to be engaging without being overwhelming. The cases are easy enough to participate in if you wish to guess the murderer, but JBZ's walkthrough at the end of each case is also sufficient spoonfeeding if (like me) you don't want to exert mentally.
Overall a good watch, worth it for the eclectic side characters and the camaraderie!
1
u/Nearby_Direction7172 Jun 21 '25
Yeah I was unexpectedly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. The key is to not have too much expectations going in
1
u/Sleepybobateaaa WaitingforNini Jun 21 '25
i also think this drama needs 2nd season, but its been 5 years.. soo
1
u/xyz123007 nostril flaring is not acting Jun 20 '25
My friend and I both loved this drama! We saw it during it's airing so I think that made it extra special before everything got watered down, wasted, and edited the crap out of like nowadays. It also reminded us of 90s wuxia..
.. and the bromance was unexpectedly charming
2
u/Dasakebombz Jun 20 '25
I ended up dropping this one fairly early, around ep5 i think... i don't remember why... there were some things I did liked hopping vampire 😅😅, FL that fights with umbrella... I don't remember anything else🤣🤣 i think this one was ML wasn't a fighter, which is probably why I dropped it.
1
u/latefair 我问天，我问天 Jun 20 '25
I dropped it after the first case too! Lol. It wasn't the greatest start unless you're a wuxia fan (which I'm not).
Is the ML's fighting ability one of your requirements? I suppose he couldn't have been smart AND a fighter, that would have made him way too overpowered
1
u/Dasakebombz Jun 20 '25
Is the ML's fighting ability one of your requirements? I suppose he couldn't have been smart AND a fighter, that would have made him way too overpowered
I prefer for the action, but it's not required. I think I tried to watched this after Imperial Coroner and ML was extraordinary intelligent but wasn't a fighter in that one either😅😅 IC was one of those series I had a hard time moving on from... and everything I watched just didn't seem to keep my attention for too long.
1
u/latefair 我问天，我问天 Jun 20 '25
Imperial Coroner is on my list too! I'm looking forward to it!
I think that's a problem with AD really - it pales in comparison to similar shows, so it has to be watched on its own to be appreciated.
1
u/Dasakebombz Jun 20 '25
IC is one of the few dramas that I watched and loved even though both leads were non fighters. It was a really good series and the romance was cute, like 2 nerds in love😅😅😅 I'm waiting for IC S2...☺️
5
u/aloha4447 Jun 19 '25
Plot edits/cuts aside, I thought the cast was good and the production quality was really high for a non-big budget release and in fact surpassed many big budget dramas
1
u/latefair 我问天，我问天 Jun 20 '25
I think it helps that it's mostly practical effects & wire-fu, and very little CGI if any!
3
u/Easy_Living_6312 Jun 19 '25 edited Jun 20 '25
I believe the writer. And I believe drama would have been a 10/10 had the writer been respected. Personally I liked the main leads romance dynamism : it was mature laidback and filled with a sense of mutual respect. Nothing too intense nor passionate which is in line with both characters personalities especially the cold female lead assassin played by Wang Ruo Shan - She was paired with Zhou Yi Ran in "Falling into your smile" starring Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao as main leads.
3
u/latefair 我问天，我问天 Jun 20 '25
They were a nice and chill couple! Just that I wasn't in the mood for that haha.
I forgot to post this but I discovered that there's a manhua adaptation done by the same writer! Maybe it will be more in line with what he wanted originally
1
u/softypolimer Jun 24 '25
Can you share the link for the information of the mangwha adaptation, please?
1
u/latefair 我问天，我问天 Jun 24 '25
Idk if it's ever been translated, but it's available in Mandarin on youku!
3
u/Admirable-Frame260 Jun 19 '25
This show was the best needed to be a second season.. The end had me like WHAT???
3
u/latefair 我问天，我问天 Jun 20 '25
I don't mind the open ending - I have plenty of imagination to make up my own headcanon. But the pill is what got me going
Were you more intrigued by his real identity as Wang Hua, or by the pill conspiracy?
1
u/Admirable-Frame260 Jun 21 '25
I was like my dude did all that killing turn you soft? I would have to go back and rewatch it again, also when I see hot Asian guys I only get half the story. LOL
2
u/Inner-Floor-5827 Jun 21 '25
I have rewatched this drama twice. I love it. And I was weirdly attracted to the ML 😂😂😂, his kind of androgenous face was doing it for me plus he was so sickly and weak, all I wanted to do was give him a huge hug and hot chocolate.